after about a year of generally not being kept up to scratch (haven't been defragging as much as I should, haven't done a format evar, no hardware upgrades) and it's starting to tell, things are definately getting sluggish. maybe they've just been improving the graphics engine, but I could swear I've lost 10-20 fps in TF2 o_0 so it's time for a spring clean, even if it isn't spring yet. what do you guys do in these situations?
- carrying out a backup if I were to format everything shouldn't be too much of a problem, we've got an external HDD 250gb (same size as my hard drive) kicking about somewhere, but that wouldn't be ideal as it's already got some stuff on it. thing is, I don't know where to start. after uninstalling/reinstalling windows, could I really just plonk back everything into C drive and it would work fine and dandy?
- would it be worth getting another 250gb and putting it in RAID with my current one (how the hell do you do that anyway)? get a faster HDD? a combination of the two? for speed more than for storage space, but it would be nice if I could use it to make this backup easier.

speaking of hardware upgrades, RAM - got 2x1gb sticks of DDR2 in, this stuff I think (or something very similair) http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m ... al_channel. I have room for another 2 DDR2 sticks, and slots for dual channel DDR3. what's the most cost-efficient improvement I can make here?

- another set of dual channel DDR2 and hope it doesn't upset my overclock too much (pretty inevitable that it will)? does it have to be the very same kind as the ones I've got already?
- or the DDR3 option? I'm wary of DDR3, partly because of the price tag, partly because I have a feeling that the only real use for it is to do major overclocks on faster processers than mine.

SYSTEM SPECz

CPU - Intel Dual Core E2180 overclocked to 3.0ghz (not getting any more out of it any time soon. I can look into what the mobo can and can't take it you want, but I know it won't manage i7's or anything)
RAM - see above
graphics card - 8800gt, 512mb, updated drivers (I'm pretty sure). don't really want to replace it yet.
- I hear that you can overclock these things a bit? tell me more!
HDD - Western Digital 250gb 7200rpm. wouldn't mind something faster, depending on price. storage space isn't a problem.
power - big meaty corsair that can take any upgrades you want to put on this.
monitor is running at 1680x1050. rig is for gaming obv :p

at the end of the day, looking to spend as little money as possible for maximum effect, so budget doesn't really come into it.

phew. that's a pretty major lot to take in, but if you can give me any advice at all, or answer any of the questions (even if it's just a couple of random ones) it would be very much appreciated!

edit: seperated out my actual questions to make it a bit easier to digest

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ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

I think you mean bollocking up the graphics engine

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

ok I'll make this simple for you :p

upgrades I'm thinking about doing

- replacing CPU with a wolfdale (E7/8xxx, 45nm ones)
- getting these http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a ... tid=frooct and sticking them in dual channel, next to the 2x1gb set I already have of the same speed
- getting an identical hardrive (250gb, 7200rpm) to my current one and putting it in the speed RAID setup

good? bad? any better ideas? cheers

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ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

Does your motherboard have SATA II slots? if yes, then i recommend a sata II HDD.

like this one: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... =HD-244-WD

After my experiances with the Intel X25 SSD i can do nothing but recommend taking one. Fitting your PC with an SSD makes it feel like you have a new awsome powerfull PC.

Caviar Black (as Kellerman suggested) are recommended as some of the best HDD's around, if you don't want the size limitations of the SSD those are the ones to go for.

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

hmm. I like the idea of that caviar - I already have a western digital caviar in, but it's an older model, not a black. so if this is faster I'd be willing to go for it. what do you think; keep the old HDD for storage? what would I put on it - stuff like word documents and music, and keep vista, games, stuff that needs to be fast on the new, faster, bigger one? RAID them? you can probably tell that I don't have any experience with RAID, partitioning hard drives etc :p

SSD's look so very sexy, but I couldn't justify spending that much money on it and the rest of my PC wouldn't live up to it anyway.

list of stuff to get so far -

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a ... tid=frooct
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a ... id=gsearch

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ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

I would say don't bother with RAID, if you don't have identical drives then I think RAID 0 often fails anyway, or is just a massive phaff to set up (RAID 0 being the one you want for increased performance).

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig